Sep 2007

Sunny and hot today, but the drivin' back to Memphis was fine. Top down, sun tan lotion liberally applied, WROX-AM radio (Clarksdale - "we play only the Blues") on full blast. It was great. We took a side trip off the main highway to Shelby, MS. A couple of juke joints there. Only one was open - the Player's Lounge. There were two fellows skinning catfish outside, getting ready for tonight's feed. They gave us a little demonstration of their art (of course we tipped them well), and had a couple of beers inside this classic original juke joint. Paintings of blues artist's on the wall, and a blues-filled jukebox. Had the place all to ourselves. It was a great detour.

We stopped at Clarksdale, at the Ground Zero Blues Club again, to satisfy Dennie's craving for fried green tomatoes and okra. Met up with Puddin' again - in fact, we bought him an order of tomatoes and he sat with us as we ate and drank. We watched him show his tricks to various people as they walked in - all equally amazed at his wizardry. It was a lot of fun. Our waitress was Christie, a nice young gal. We took her picture, even though she doesn't think of herself as photogenic. Emailed it back to her once we reached West Memphis.

Steve forgot his hat in Ground Zero. As he went to retrieve it, he saw Puddin' hustling down the street with it, apparently considering it a souvenir! Steve flagged him down and retrieved it.

We got several honks from people along the way, apparently enjoying the sight of two middle-aged guys with wide-brimmed hats in a gold convertible, truckin' down the highway. We waved wildly back. Everyone's friendly down heah'.

Checked into the Hampton Inn in West Memphis, AR. Very hot. Wild Bill's tonight. He died recently, but his family plans to keep it going.

Every trip has a "down" day, and, for us, that day was Greenville. We had a fun sightseeing trip down to Louisiana yesterday before returning to Greenville to settle in.

The problems started quickly - we had trouble with our internet connection, which the hotel couldn't fix. We obviously were able to get the blog entries uploaded at least. The hotel room was adequate, but the tap water was brownish, the air and floors had a clammy feel, and the breakfast the next day was pretty meager. Hey, their pool was nice, and we had a great swim last night.

After that we drove down famed Nelson Street, which, in its glory days, used to be filled with the sound of live music coming from every neighborhood juke joint. Now, however, it's mostly empty buildings, left to rot. Depressing. There was, however, a good eating place down there that came highly recommended - Does Eat Place. It was amazing - they had a security guard out front who helped park you and then watched your car for you while you ate (of course, he would like a couple of bucks for doing so). Doe's was nothing fancy whatsoever. Four walls, some grills, and tables scattered right next to the food prep areas. You walk from outside directly into the kitchen! The waitress told us to reach into the cooler and grab whatever beer we wanted! It's obviously a popular spot because the food was plentiful and great (and a tad expensive). No menus, just a few items to choose from. Dennie had a HUGE steak, I had the shrimp. Both of us got a mound of homemade french fries, deep-fat fried. Probably not the healthiest meal, but the atmosphere was great and we enjoyed it. And the car was in one piece when we came out! I even found a little friend outside who needed some attention.

The streets down here by the levee are nearly deserted after dark - you could shoot a cannon down the long, empty streets and not hit anything or anybody. Greenville appears to have some "issues". We found the Blues Club we were looking for, but only stayed a short while. The band was out of tune a bit, and it just didn't "feel" right down there. Besides, we were a bit tired. Ain't as young as we used to be, I guess!